Love Present: HNM
by Chinorwegia
Summary: Sequel to Love Past: Adult-Child Problems. It has been five months since the incident described in the last story and Muse finally starts preparations for the long awaited European Tour. But can things go peacefully as they had for the last five months? Or will something else happen? And all of this while Honoka, Maki, and Nico work on a developing relationship. On hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome to the continuation of Love Past! If you haven't read Love Past yet, I reccomend that you do so before reading this. It would make more sense that way.**

**As for those of you who have read Love Past before, here's the next part! I was really happy when five people voted yes one day after I announced the poll open. In fact, this first chapter all came from a dream I had after falling asleep thinking of how to start the story. It's kind of weird really, because Love Past also orginated from a dream, which makes me think that this story was meant to be. But enough rambling. And now onto Love Present!**

* * *

It had been five months since the strange incident that brought them all together. Maki's leg was finally healed and they had begun preparations for the upcoming European tour. At some point though, the three lovers had found the time and energy to make a room below the house for themselves, and had done so without the rest of Muse finding out. At least, the others didn't find out until after the room had already been built. On top of that, the trio had created their own secret language that was relatively simple, if the others could actually catch them using it. A lot of changes had happened over the last five months…a lot of weird changes.

Maki walked from the laundry room towards the kitchen. In each of her hands was a pistol and a third one hung from her belt loop. Most of Muse had already succumbed to the infection. They had all disintegrated at the hands of other members. The light was on in the kitchen. She walked in. Honoka and Nico were sitting at the table, eating, with guns right next to them.

"Are we the last three Muse?" Maki asked, pulling up a chair.

"Yeah." Honoka said, shoveling food into her mouth.

"Maki-chan, can we ask you a favor?" Nico asked, turning away from her finished plate.

"Sure." Maki responded easily.

"Kill us." Nico said.

"W-what?! I can't do that!" Maki shouted. She waved her hands, which were still holding guns, before realizing that fact and putting the guns down.

"We're already infected, Maki-chan. Please, we don't want to turn on you." Honoka pleaded. She and Nico both bared their left arms to show a discoloration of their skin that was spreading quickly.

"I don't care about that! I don't want to kill you!" Maki retorted.

"If it comes down to that…" Nico started.

"…we don't want to push all that guilt on you Maki-chan." Honoka finished.

"We'll do it ourselves." They said together. As Maki watched in shock, they both raised their pistols at each other and fired. As their bodies fell, they disintegrated, leaving only their guns. Maki fell off of her chair in shock.

"Honoka-chan! Nico-chan!" She screamed.

And then she hit the floor, face-first. Groaning, she pushed herself onto her hands and knees and looked around. She was on the floor between her bed and Nico's, in their secret hideaway under the house.

"What's wrong, Maki-chan?" Nico grumbled, rubbing her eyes and getting her facial cream messed up at the same time.

"N-nothing!" Maki said quickly, scrambling to her feet. 'That was one weird dream though. It felt so real.' Maki looked to her right and found Honoka still sleeping, though the ginger was already halfway to the floor.

"Sure didn't sound like nothing." Nico commented. She got off her bed and headed to her exit. "I'll be back after I wash up and get a change of clothes." Maki nodded and the black-haired woman disappeared, heading up to her room.

"Might as well wash up and change too." Maki said to herself. She glanced back at Honoka before heading to her own exit. 'Man, she sleeps through almost everything…' The ladder that led up to her room was positioned right behind a poster trapdoor. She crawled out of the trapdoor and stood up, dusting herself off. Her room seemed a lot emptier now, with her bed down below. She grabbed some clean clothes and headed to the bathroom, trusting that Eri and Nozomi had already used it.

Meanwhile, down below the house, Honoka had just woken up. She sat up, yawning, and mumbled a sleepy 'good morning', directed to the room's two other occupants. When she got no response, she glanced over at their beds and realized that they were no longer there and that their beds were not made yet.

"Did they get kidnapped or something?! I need to go tell someone! Eri-chan and Umi-chan should know what to do!" She scrambled to her exit and climbed up, popping out in her room. She ran to the kitchen, knowing that Umi and Eri usually got up early to drink a cup of tea together. She found them sitting there, drinking their morning cup of tea.

"Eri-chan! Umi-chan!" Honoka shouted, despite the other two's proximity.

"We're right here. You don't have to shout." Umi said.

"What is it, Honoka?" Eri asked, shooting Umi a disapproving look.

"Nico-chan and Maki-chan have been kidnapped!" Honoka said. She then realized how dumb that sounded and that the likelihood of those two actually getting kidnapped from a room that no one but they knew how to get in was really, really low. "You know what? Forget I ever said anything! Bye!" Honoka dashed off back where she came from to go get washed up. Eri and Umi stared after her, then decided it wasn't worth pursuing the topic and sipped their tea.

Back in the underground room, Maki and Nico had returned at the same time and had started on making their beds. Honoka being missing didn't really bother them as the ginger did what she wanted at her own pace and the other two often simply followed. Honoka slid down a slide from her room and grabbed them both into a hug.

"Thank goodness! You weren't kidnapped!" Honoka shouted.

"What are you…you know what? I'm not even going to bother." Nico said, her voice a bit muffled due to being in Honoka's hug. Their leader laughed nervously and let them go, turning to make her own bed.

"You know, I heard that there's this new amusement park open. Want to go and check it out?" Honoka asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Nico said.

"Let's tell the others and then we can all go and have fun!" Honoka said.

"No." Eri said. It was after breakfast when Honoka brought up the amusement park. Eri and Nozomi stood at the sink, washing the dishes. The other pairs had gone off to change into practice clothes, while Honoka, Maki, and Nico were still in the kitchen.

"We need to practice. It's been five months since the last group practice because Maki was injured and you two were taking care of her. Plus, the European Tour's coming up soon, or have you forgotten?"

"Fine…" Honoka mumbled. However, since Eri wasn't paying attention, she started flashing signs at Maki and Nico. She pointed to herself, then to her heart, then to Eri, mimicked talking with one hand, which was then followed by crossing her arms into an 'X'. She then motioned to the two of them, herself, mimicked walking with one hand, grinned, and then spread her arms out wide, followed by outlining a tree. Maki and Nico nodded and they ran off.

"I'll be going now." Honoka announced. She edged toward the kitchen exit.

"See you later." Nozomi called. Honoka ran to her room. She grabbed her cellphone and her wallet and stuffed them into her carry-bag. Making sure she had all she needed, she went to the front door and found the other two waiting. The three of them left the house as silently as they could and walked toward the garage. They pulled out their bicycles and got on, rolling down their sloped driveway to the street. Then they pedaled, heading for the amusement park that Eri wouldn't let them go to.

Back at the house, Eri and Nozomi had finished the dishes and were heading to the dance studio. Umi and Kotori were discussing choreography while Rin and Hanayo helped each other stretch.

"Where's HNM?" Eri asked, attracting the attention of the other members.

"What's HNM?" Rin asked.

"It's short for Honoka, Nico, and Maki. But where are they? They should be here by now." Eri explained.

"They haven't come yet." Umi said. "Why?"

"Oh, great. They went to the amusement park, didn't they? And I told them we needed to practice too." Eri sighed. "We'll have to make sure they practice tomorrow then."

The three of them were at the amusement park. They had already managed to get on one roller coaster and were lining up for another. Their goal was to ride as many rides as possible before being called back home, which was usually around sunset. After that second coaster though, they had to stop for a bit as Honoka nearly threw up.

"And this is why you don't eat while standing in line for a roller coaster!" Maki shouted at the ginger. She was rubbing Honoka's back as their leader bent over a trash can, dry heaving.

"S-sorry…" Honoka wheezed. "But I'm feeling better now. Let's go play some games!" She walked away from the trash can confidently, but Maki and Nico watched her carefully from behind, both ready to catch her if something went wrong. They managed to win prizes for each other before riding on the Ferris Wheel. Maki hugged a large stuffed tiger that Honoka had won for her, Honoka held a large stuffed bear that Nico had won, and Nico snuggled a panda that had been her gift from Maki. The three of them sat in the same car and watched the sunset from the top of the wheel.

"You know…I'm pretty glad that we're all alive." Honoka commented. Maki shuddered, remembering her dream from earlier. It went unnoticed by the other two.

"Yeah, and that we're all together." Nico said.

"No one go dying on each other, okay?" Maki said. The other two laughed and Maki managed a smile.

* * *

In a certain European country, a man sat in front of his laptop, looking at a translated Muse webpage. The announcement of the European Tour caught his eye.

"Finally…" He said with a sinister grin.

* * *

**A/N: A new story, a new plot. Hopefully no characters will be injured this time. Please review and tell me what you think so far!.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Review Responses:**

**Dash24zappshift: It may be a foreshadowing of coming events but I'm not sure at the moment.**

**lianacim14: They are back to normal.**

**I forgot to mention in the first chapter, but do you like the cover art? I did it myself so it might not be the best of fanart. Also, I forgot the disclaimer in the previous chapter too.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Love Live.**

* * *

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven eight! Honoka, pick up the pace!" Umi shouted. She and Eri were overseeing the dance practice.

"O-okay!" Honoka called back. She sped up her movements a bit, as per Umi's instructions. Their entire group was currently undergoing a rigorous practice due to the trio sneaking off the previous day. The rest of them weren't exactly pleased to have to do extra hard practice when it was only three who deserved it.

"Alright, break time!" Eri announced. The ones practicing sat down where they were, panting.

"This is all your faults!" Rin complained. "You ran off without the rest of us and know we have to suffer too!"

"We already said sorry, okay?!" Nico retorted. Maki sighed and leaned against Honoka, not wanting to deal with the increasing tensions.

"It's not fair to us! Sorry doesn't cut it!" Umi said. Even if she wasn't currently practicing, she had been working hard to make sure that no one slacked off. She and Eri were as tired as the women practicing, if not more so, because of their double jobs to monitor the Muse practice as well as practicing themselves. Umi rubbed her forehead. 'After these three got together, things have gotten a lot harder to handle.' Kotori noticed her friend's headache and stepped over to her. She sat Umi down on the floor and clapped her hands for everyone's attention.

"I know we're all tired-" She started and was immediately interrupted by Rin saying, "And we all know who's to blame for it!"

"You would have done the same in our position, Rin." Maki mumbled. "Don't deny it."

"Besides, if you really had wanted us to practice yesterday, you would have come and got us. It wouldn't be that hard since I remember asking Eri-chan about it just before we left." Honoka brought up. She made a valid point as the half-Russian and the rest of Muse had known exactly where HNM had gone and could have brought them back, but hadn't. Kotori looked worriedly around as it was obvious tensions were still high but no one was able to make a comeback. She was about to continue when Nozomi spoke.

"Parents like to spoil their kids, right?" The spiritual woman said. Despite all the irritation in her fellow members, she was still smiling like normal.

"That was for, like, two days five months ago." Nico muttered.

"Nico-chan's right! We're not kids anymore so the rest of you can't tell us what to do!" Honoka said.

"But technically, we're supposed to be responsible." Maki responded, still leaning against the leader.

"Whose side are you on anyway?" Nico asked.

"…Link's?" Maki said. She had closed her eyes as she answered and opened them when several seconds of silence passed. "…What?" she said defensively.

"…Do you have a fever or something?" Nico asked, crawling over to put a hand on Maki's forehead. The red-head blushed. "O-of course not! I'm fine!"

"Ahahaha!" Honoka laughed, clutching her stomach and bending forward. Maki slipped off of the ginger's shoulder and hit the floor.

"…I-Is Honoka-chan okay?" Hanayo asked, speaking for the first time.

"C'mon guys! Maki-chan made a joke!" Honoka said, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye to exaggerate how funny it was.

"I wasn't trying to make a joke…" Maki muttered, pushing herself up from the ground. "That makes the second time in two days that I have hit the ground…" Honoka forced herself to laugh again and this time, Rin and Hanayo joined in.

"What are they doing? I don't get it." Nico said.

"Trying to ease the tension in their own way perhaps?" Nozomi said. Nico looked up at the taller woman in surprise.

"It seems to be working." Eri said, joining the two as Honoka told the others of how she had eaten a funnel cake followed by a slice of pizza before going on a roller coaster.

"Honoka-chan! Didn't your mom always tell you not to eat before going on a roller coaster?!" Kotori asked.

"Ehehe! I forgot!" Honoka smiled sheepishly.

"So I had to watch her dry heave over a trash can, in plain view of passerby. You have no idea how horrible it was." Maki said.

"I bet they don't, so let's show them!" Honoka said brightly. Umi frowned. 'Why are they doing this? It's weird for them to act like this.' Honoka pulled a trash can over from a corner.

"So I was bent over the trash can and Maki-chan was rubbing my back to make me feel better!" Honoka said, grinning as she pretended to dry heave.

"Ew…" Rin said. "Sounds like you guys didn't really have that good of a time."

"That's all Honoka's fault." Maki said, sighing. "We couldn't go on any more rides after that because we were too worried about her. Right, Nico-chan?"

"Huh?! Oh, right!" The black-haired woman was confused as to why Maki had dragged her into the conversation, but then realized that Maki was running out of ways to keep the mood light and had turned to Nico for help.

"Yeah, it wasn't until way later that we went on the Ferris wheel, and only because someone was whining about not being able to go on rides." Nico said with a smirk.

"They didn't need to know that, Nico-chan!" Honoka whined.

"Says the person who purposely showed everyone how she almost threw up." Nico threw back. Honoka hid her face in mock shame, which made everyone laugh.

"I really don't get them sometimes. They dig themselves deep into trouble and then get themselves out of it almost as quickly." Eri told Nozomi.

"They balance each other out." Nozomi said. "A responsible young woman paired with two not-so-responsible troublemakers? You'd have to admire how they managed to get together."

"But they got together as little kids." Eri reminded.

"And it probably helps that each of us can't help but give in to them, especially since they don't really try to anger us." Nozomi said.

"Will I ever win against you?"

"No. You never will." Nozomi said confidently.

"What about in bed?" Eri asked slyly.

"That has nothing to do with this, Eri-chi!"

* * *

**Please review?**


End file.
